Kinzinger topples Manzullo in Illinois

UTICA, Ill. — Branding himself as a new kind of conservative, Adam Kinzinger bested two-decade veteran Don Manzullo in the first Republican member-on-member race of the 2012 cycle.

The ugly GOP primary fight drew some strange lines in the sand: On one side were tea-party groups with Manzullo, despite the fact they had rallied around Kinzinger in 2010. And on the other were House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Kinzinger, a freshman and rising Republican star.

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Far from deterring them, Kinzinger’s win could act as an incentive for House leaders like Cantor to intervene in future primary contests.

Besides that marquee fight, most of the night’s action was on the Democratic side, where Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. crushed former Democratic Rep. Debbie Halvorson and two establishment-backed candidates fended off progressive favorites.

The Manzullo vs. Kinzinger race was framed as a battle of the past versus the future. Kinzinger — who led Manzullo, 56 to 43 percent, with 87 percent of precincts reporting — swept into office in an 87-member House GOP freshman class determined to change Washington while casting Manzullo as a creaky lawmaker long past his prime.

Appearing before a gathering of supporters at the Starved Rock Lodge here Tuesday evening, Kinzinger reiterated that message.

“Tonight Illinois has set a tone for the nation, that we won’t stand idle hoping that our economy improves. This is a brand new day for the Illinois Republican Party,” Kinzinger said. “Tonight we send a message to our party that here in Illinois, there will be a new generation of Republican leaders and we will fight to provide a better tomorrow for future generations. We’ve made clear the status quo is no longer acceptable.”

After trailing in early polling, Manzullo appeared to gain late momentum, scoring the backing of over a dozen conservative groups like FreedomWorks and the American Conservative Union.

But Kinzinger’s dogged ground game — which included holding 30 town hall meetings in the newly configured 16th Congressional District over just the past two months — carried the day.

“About 70 percent of the district was new,” Kinzinger said. “It was a short amount of time to get to know hundreds and thousands of people. But with the help and support of old friends, we built a grassroots operation organically from the ground up.”

Kinzinger’s victory is a major win for Cantor, who backed the freshman congressman in an unusual step for a party leader to take in a race between two colleagues. A super PAC that is aligned with Cantor also aired radio ads supportive of Kinzinger.

Cantor’s move was seen as an effort to consolidate his support with the younger, conservative wing of the House GOP Conference that is regarded as his base.

But his decision to take sides was met with anger and surprise at high levels of the party. Late last week, House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy both phoned Manzullo to distance themselves from Cantor’s endorsement. And in the days leading up to the election, Manzullo railed against Cantor, at one point going so far as to call on him to step down from leadership.